The Cuisinart TOA-60 holds a 7.6/10 ClearPick score, but the 14 verified Reddit mentions behind that number skew negative — 7 negative, 6 mixed, and just 1 clean positive. The reason isn't the cooking performance, which owners generally rate fine; it's a specific, repeating mechanical failure: the mode and bake-time dials. Multiple owners describe the same dial breaking on a roughly annual cycle, sometimes on a second or third replacement unit, which is the story anyone deciding whether to still buy this in 2026 needs to see in full.
What owners actually get
When the TOA-60 is working, owners are largely satisfied with what $199 CAD buys. One owner reports it "running like a top with over 5 years of daily use," with the only complaint being cosmetic — the dial markings rubbing off. The 0.6 cubic foot interior fits a 6-slice pizza or small chicken, the temperature range spans 60°C to 230°C, and the air fryer function works well at higher convection speeds per ClearPick's testing, which lines up with its 9.5/10 value subscore — the highest of any subscore on the unit. One owner who dealt with a defective secondhand unit even found the fix cheap and accessible: after tracing a bad switch to "apparently a common defect," they sourced an identical replacement part on eBay for $6 and repaired it themselves. That repairability matters, because it's often the only thing standing between a broken dial and a trip to the landfill.
The complaint pattern
The dominant complaint theme across the sample is dial and knob failure, and it shows up with striking regularity. One owner logs it precisely: "about 13 months into ownership one of the dials broke (the mode select dial)... The new one lasted exactly 11 months. This time, the bake time dial broke." Another owner is on their third or fourth replacement unit under warranty and calls all of them "garbage," noting the current one didn't fail until after warranty expired, leaving them "limping along for years with the knobs virtually unusable." A third owner is sticking with the TOA-60 despite the same dial failure only because they haven't found another air fryer oven with stainless accessories. Secondary complaints include non-stainless trays that stain permanently when used without foil, cook times that run hot (a salmon recipe cooked well past done at the recommended setting), and at least one owner who, after five years, finally gave up on "untrustworthy temperatures/cook times" and passed the unit to a friend rather than keep troubleshooting it. None of this shows up as sudden catastrophic failure — it's a slow accumulation of the same one or two parts wearing out, repeatedly, on a roughly annual cycle.
Who It’s For
What owners actually say
What buyers love
“Hopping in 3 years late to say that my TOA-60 has been running like a top with over 5 years of daily use.”
r/airfryer
Common complaints
Dial fails on a roughly annual cycle
about 13 months into ownership one of the dials broke (the mode select dial)... The new one lasted exactly 11 months. This time, the bake time dial broke and would no longer "click" but instead snap back to the start position.
r/airfryerThird or fourth replacement, same failure
This is #3 or #4 of the ones they replaced under warranty. Garbage, all. This one didn't start malfunctioning until after the warranty expired so I've been limping along for years with the knobs virtually unusable. Now it's become *actually* unusable.
r/airfryerGave up after 5 years of unreliable cook times
After waiting 5 years for it to die, I realized how much money I was spending on food waste and time I could have been working trying to cook with my Cuisinart TOA-60. I decided to give it to a friend who swears they can live with its relentless fiddly cleaning needs and untrustworthy temperatures/cook times and look for a better option.
r/CookingTrays stain permanently without foil
I love this air fryer oven, but I HATE the trays and racks it came with. It’s not stainless, and not machine washable- okay, but my husband used the cookie tray one time without wrapping the tray with foil (like I didn’t tell him!), and it now has burn stains that I cannot get rid of.
r/airfryerConditionally, yes — but go in with eyes open. The TOA-60 still delivers the best value subscore in its class, and its core cooking performance (toast, bake, air fry) draws no serious complaints in the sample. What it does draw is a specific, well-documented mechanical failure: the mode or bake-time dial breaking around the 11-13 month mark, sometimes recurring across two or three warranty replacements. Owners who've kept theirs 5+ years exist, so the failure isn't universal, but it's frequent enough across only 14 mentions that it should factor into the purchase, not be treated as bad luck. If a $6 eBay part and an afternoon of DIY repair sound tolerable to you, the TOA-60 remains the cheapest reasonable way into this category. If you want zero mechanical drama, budget for the possibility of a dial replacement — or accept that no unit in this price bracket, TOA-60 included, is complaint-free on that front.